Category Archives: Editing

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Organic Fertilizers (Grow Organic)

It is better to use organic fertilizers for a number of reasons, not the least of which is what you are leaving behind in your environment as you garden.  However, chemical fertilizers can actually damage plants, causing a speed of growth that weakens the plants to disease and damage in the long-term.

Bonemeal:  Promotes strong root growth, use as a base dressing before planting shrubs, fruit, and other perennials.

Plant-based Fertilizers:  Such as comfrey, alfalfa, and soy.  Use to feed vegetables.

Soybean meal:  High-nitrogen source.  Use on annual vegetable beds or as a base dressing in poor soil.

Seaweed meal:  Helps build up humus levels.  Use for annual beds, fruit trees, bushes, lawns.

Rock Phosphate:  Use to correct a phosphate deficiency, good non-animal alternative to bonemeal.

Organic garden potash:  Use to feed fruit and vegetables.

Gypsum:  Supplies calcium without altering PH

If you do need to alter the PH of soil, use ground limestone or dolomitic limestone to make it more alkaline.

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Alton Brown’s Rules of Cooking

Weirdly enough, most of these I were my own rules, too, if not formulated so specifically.  Nice to see a “real cook” who stated the same.  I’ve also greatly enjoyed the science he gives behind things.  I knew a lot of it worked, but now I have a more solid basis for the factual why, rather than just an instinctive knowledge.

Unless it is important for the chemistry of the cooking that seasoning ratios be kept the same (dry curing is an example), you don’t have to follow strict measurements from recipes.

Unless you are worrying about acid or salt content, one watery liquid can usually be substituted for another.  The taste will change, but the consistency will not.

If the final dish is to be baked, don’t mess around with the recipe unless it is to make a proven substitution (baking soda and cream of tartar instead of baking powder, etc….)

IF you are cooking a chunk of something, or chunks of something, you can usually mess about with your spices to your heart’s content.

Foods within the same family can be substituted with ease and glee.  (Green onions for leeks, etc…)

Ingredients with similar flavors can also be substituted as above.  (anchovies for capers, etc….)

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Depression

Herbs:  St John’s Wort, Valerian, Rose, Cronewort, Mugwort, Sage, Rosemary, Oatstraw

Foods:  Spinach, Chard, Collard Greens, Walnuts, Flax, Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Tuna, Halibut, Sardines, Beans, Pasta

Vitamins and Supplements:  Vitamin B

Actions:  Activity, not necessarily physical, can assist with depression.  Lethargy exacerbates to feeling and the condition.  Also taking a good hard look at what you eat and when can assist with battling depression.  A lot of mood disorders can be traced, at least in part, to a lack of appropos nutrition, or an imbalance that is causing other physical issues.  We have had quite a bit of luck with this tea as a long term tonic for mood issues, and this one as a more immediate assist for depression and rage.

Aromatherapy:  Rose

Folk Remedies:

Things to Avoid:  Inactivity

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Colour Meanings

Red:

Love, passion, respect, energy, enthusiasm, courage, understanding, motivation, strength, warmth, vigor

Maroon:

Bravery, strength

Magenta:

Spirituality, meditation, imagination, release, new beginnings

Pink:

Friendship, compassion, sensitivity, generosity, warm-heartedness, nurturing, soothing, admiration, gratitude, appreciation

Orange:

Thoughtfulness, vitality, attraction, creativity, energy, enthusiasm, warmth

Peach:

Innocence, empathy, harmony, warmth, peace

Yellow:

Wisdom, learning, optimism, intuition, faith, we;ll-being, friendship, energizing, happiness, sociability

Green:

Earth, healing, prosperity, fertility, clarity, sympathy, hope, renewal, health, balance

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Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)

Useful For:  Red Blood Cells, Hair, Skin, Nails, Energy

Herbal Sources:  Alfalfa, Bladderwrack, Burdock Root, Catnip, Cayenne, Chickweed, Eyebright, Fennel, Fenugreek, Ginseng, Hops, Horsetail, Mullein, Nettle, Oatstraw, Parsley, Peppermint, Raspberry Leaves, Red Clover, Rose Hips, Sage, Yellow Dock

Food Sources:  Whole grains, organ meats, sweet potatoes, avocado, egg yolks, fish, whey

 

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Sinus Infection

Herbs:  Coltsfoot, Peppermint, Cinnamon, Lemon Balm, Licorice, Chamomile, Lavender, Oregano, Clove, Eucalyptus

Foods:

Vitamins and Supplements:

Actions:  Putting warm compresses over the sinuses/where the infection is can help.  Make sure to stay hydrated.  You use even more water than usual when your body is attempting to flush an infection.  Drink chamomile tea, especially blends involving cinnamon, and sweeten with honey.  This gives a triple punch to whatever is causing the infection.  Both cinnamon and honey have effects on fungi, viruses, and bacteria.  Eat cinnamon candies, or chew cinnamon gum.  Make sure that it is actual cinnamon used, not “cinnamon flavour,” which is a chemical substitute that does not have the effects of cinnamon.  If you can tolerate drinking cinnamon tea or chewing on a cinnamon stick, that has an even greater effect.  My partner, who had chronic and persistent sinus infections, swears by this tea.

Aromatherapy:  Tea tree, lavender, chamomile, oregano, clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus

Folk Remedies:

Things to Avoid:  Dehydration

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Compost (stuff to use)

Greens (quick to rot):

Grass mowings

Poultry manure (without bedding)

Young weeds and plants, nettles of any age

Intermediate:

Fruit and vegetable scraps

Rhubarb leaves

Tea bags, tea leaves, coffee grounds

Vegetable plants

strawy animal manures

cut flowers

soft hedge clippings

Bedding from herbivorous pets

perennial weeds

Browns (slow to rot):

Old straw

Tough plant and vegetable stems

old bedding plants

fall leaves

woody prunings, evergreen hedge trimmings

cardboard tubes, egg cartons

crumpled paper and newspaper

DO NOT USE:

Meat and fish scraps

dog and cat offal

disposable diapers

coal ashes

plastic, polystyrene, glass, metal

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